ReadWrite - knowledge managementhttp://readwrite.com/tag/knowledge-management
enCopyright 2015 Wearable World Inc.http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 31 Mar 2015 11:06:51 -0700Memo To GitHub: It's Time To Stop Geeking Out<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2818300016d19" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzAyNTM3NjU0MTA4Nzc0.jpg" /></figure></div><p>If you’re not a developer and you've heard of GitHub at all, you probably only know it as an online space where developers work together on coding projects—one that's only useful to the geekiest sector of the population.&nbsp;</p><p>But GitHub is actually&nbsp;an incredibly useful tool that could be used to organize any group project online. And&nbsp;the day that “regular” people begin adopting it is closer than you think.</p><p>On Wednesday, GitHub CEO <a href="http://tom.preston-werner.com/">Tom Preston-Werner</a> said normals are welcome to join the party.&nbsp;“We want to make [non-development] use cases possible,” he said&nbsp;at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 conference. “Now, we still optimize GitHub for software developers. This is something that’s very important to us. Software is the future of the world.”</p><p>With a lackluster welcome like that, you could be forgiven for not rushing to sign up for an account right this instant. From a technical standpoint, though, GitHub isn’t at all specific to code projects. It’s open to anyone. If only GitHub made more of an effort to make those others feel more welcome.</p><h2>The World Outside Of Code</h2><p>When you sign up for GitHub, the first thing you do is built an online repository, or "repo"—a storage locker for your current project. You can tuck away any kind of files, from code scripts to blueprints to text documents. You and other collaborators work on these files locally, then upload—or “push”—them to the online repository, logging changes as you do so.</p><p>That way, everyone in the group can see the latest changes to these files, plus each file’s entire change history. This is called <a href="http://git-scm.com/video/what-is-version-control">version control</a>.</p><p>Usually on GitHub, this sort of project focuses on coding a program or building a website. But it doesn’t have to. Imagine a team of lawyers researching a case and using GitHub to upload and annotate legal documents. Or co-authors writing and editing chapters of a book. Or even an online brainstorming session on GitHub, which would be stored and documented far more efficiently than a mess of flustered emails ever could be.&nbsp;</p><p>Even better, GitHub is especially good at making sure you and your collaborators retain sole ownership of your projects. (See Section F of the <a href="https://help.github.com/articles/github-terms-of-service">Terms of Service</a>.) Plus, while GitHub is lauded for promoting open source, you don’t have to make your own repositories public.</p><h2>GitHub For Knowledge Workers</h2><p>On GitHub’s official <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRjP8yj2Wo&amp;list=PLg7s6cbtAD165JTRsXh8ofwRw0PqUnkVH">YouTube channel</a>, trainer Matthew McCullough explains that the tool can be useful for anyone who is considered a “knowledge worker.” A knowledge worker could be a researcher, designer, editor, inventor, creator, or anyone who is involved with creating, editing, or handling information. (Including developers, of course.)</p><p>Lawyers, writers, journalists, researchers, and academics all fit that mold. So why aren’t non-developer knowledge workers on GitHub in larger numbers?&nbsp;</p><p>According to Preston-Werner, the problem is the site's forbiddingly technical approach. “We’ve got a lot of educating to do,” he said. GitHub is built on top of Git, an eight-year-old source-code management tool that most users still manage via a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_line_interface">command- line interface</a>, like movie hackers from the 1990s.&nbsp;</p><p>While technology is certainly a hurdle, it’s not that bad. There are plenty of free tools for learning Git online. Don’t want to bother? No problem. GitHub comes with graphical interface tools that you can download and use without knowing a line of Git.</p><h2>Invite The Non-Geeks</h2><p>The biggest hurdle to broader GitHub adoption might just be its belief that geeks come first. Preston-Werner is fine with non-geeks using the service, but he’s not going to roll out the red carpet for them. He just wants it to be “possible.”</p><p>During the discussion, Preston-Werner acknowledged that GitHub is not currently a profitable company. While he didn’t say if profitability is his end goal, I have just the idea to introduce an influx of new adopters to this useful but misunderstood tool—market it as something for everyone.&nbsp;</p><p>See the entire discussion on <a href="http://techcrunch.com/events/disrupt-sf-2013/videos/">TechCrunch</a>.</p><p><em>Image of GitHub co-founder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner by Madeleine Weiss for ReadWrite</em></p>Here's a secret: GitHub isn't just for writing code. Too bad GitHub doesn't seem to care.http://readwrite.com/2013/09/11/github-for-everyone
http://readwrite.com/2013/09/11/github-for-everyoneHackWed, 11 Sep 2013 14:41:00 -0700Lauren OrsiniLoomio: Making Better Decisions Remotely Possible<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2fa7870026d19" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIyNDM1NTM0MDAwNzgzOTc0.png" /></figure></div><p>Email, instant messaging, forums, code forges and other collaboration tools make it possible for distributed teams to get work done - but they're not great tools for making decisions. The team behind <a href="http://loomio.org/">Loomio</a> wants to solve that with a new Web-based tool for focused, concise discussions that allow all team members to be heard.&nbsp;</p><p>If you've ever worked with a distributed team, you know how difficult it can be to make decisions as a group. Discussions are unstructured, rambling affairs with dozens of messages flying about and no good way to track consensus. Even worse, requests for feedback can go without comment entirely, or with only a few stakeholders raising a voice.</p><h2>Agree, Disagree, Abstain, Block</h2><p>Discussion in Loomio starts with a discussion and specific proposal, and members have the option of voting on the proposal. A group can define the options (defaults are yes/no, abstain and block), and each member can give their view summary. As votes are tallied, everyone can see get a chart that shows how many folks are in agreement, how many aren't, how many have abstained, etc.</p><p>This <em>sounds</em> pretty simple, but most of today's collaboration tools don't provide a good way to focus a discussion. The key to Loomio is that it provides a central tool for discussions and (if used properly) narrows things down to decisions that are easy to vote on.&nbsp;<em>Central</em>&nbsp;is key here.&nbsp;It helps a lot to confine activity to <em>one</em> tool rather than making users look all over for information.</p><p>A lot of online teams communicate in several ways, including email, IM, IRC, over the phone and face to face. Stakeholders who prefer one medium (like email) lose out if discussions are held in IRC, or vice-versa. Even worse, stakeholders may be totally unaware a decision is being made at all. If a group settles on Loomio, it would enable the group to say "decisions are made <em>here</em> and nowhere else." If something <em>isn't</em> put up in Loomio (or another approved tool), then a decision wouldn't be legitimate.</p><p>Settling on a decision tool like Loomio should also help cut down on noise in other communication channels. It's popular to have discussions in email and CC everyone who <em>might</em> have an opinion or <em>might</em> need to vote on something. An active team can inspire email fatigue pretty quickly with discussions that are neverending. Loomio would allow users to visit, vote and get back to work.</p><p></p><p>Actually, Loomio isn't <em>only</em> for distributed teams. There's no reason it couldn't be used in any organization, but its especially appropriate for situations where team members or stakeholders are far-flung.</p><h2>Can Loomio Solve the Problem?</h2><p>Like any tool, Loomio would only be effective if used properly. The early design could probably do with some modification - a more obvious start and end date for votes, for example - but the initial design is solid. The Loomio team says it's already in use by some organizations. New Zealand companies or organizations like&nbsp;<a href="http://www.enspiral.com/">Enspiral</a> and <a href="http://www.buckybox.com/">BuckyBox</a>&nbsp;are among the first adopters&nbsp;- though no one seems to be providing a public instance that we can point to.</p><p>If you want to help, the group is looking for contributions from Ruby on Rails developers, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/Crowd/Details/166">a little extra cash</a>&nbsp;(NZ $5,000) to help the volunteer team devote more time to Loomio development. The project is sort-of open source and already on <a href="https://github.com/enspiral/loomio">GitHub</a>. It's "sort-of" open source because the site <em>says</em> it's open source, but if you look at the license text on GitHub it's basically a stump saying: "We need to add the license. GPLv2?" The pledge drive (through the Pledge Me platform) ends on May 18th. The developers have already raised more than their target, but more money might mean more time spent on development.</p><p>If adopted a bit more widely, Loomio might help take distributed teams to a new level - much like GitHub has helped with development. It is a simple concept, but bringing order to decision-making could help teams communicate better and make better decisions, no matter where they happen to be located.&nbsp;</p>Email, instant messaging, forums, code forges and other collaboration tools make it possible for distributed teams to get work done - but they're not great tools for making decisions. The team behind Loomio wants to solve that with a new Web-based tool for focused, concise discussions that allow all team members to be heard. http://readwrite.com/2012/05/16/loomio-making-better-decisions-remotely-possible
http://readwrite.com/2012/05/16/loomio-making-better-decisions-remotely-possibleWebWed, 16 May 2012 06:33:00 -0700Joe BrockmeierStop Flying Blind: Use Big Data to Benchmark Your Startup<!-- tml-version="2" --><div tml-image="ci01b2f94cb0016d19" tml-render-position="center" tml-render-size="large"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNDM0MjQ2NTg0NDY4MDcw.jpg" /></figure></div><p> Most startups fail. Nine out of 10 never amount to anything more than fond memories and a forgotten Facebook page. One reason is that they often lack a clear picture of exactly how they’re doing until it’s too late. But there are tools designed to help you assess your startup's progress compared to similar companies.</p><div tml-image="ci01b2f94d00026d19"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNDM0MjQ4MTk0OTQ0Mjgx.jpg" /></figure></div><p>The best way for startup founders to improve their chance of success is by learning to make better decisions. But if you want to make better decisions, you need better data. And that’s where <a href="https://www.startupcompass.co/">Startup Compass</a> comes in: It’s designed to help you benchmark your startup’s performance against thousands of others to identify what you’re doing right and what you need to improve.</p><p>Startup Compass collects data from tens of thousands of startups around the world. It collects lots of data, then creates best practices, recommendations and benchmarks to help entrepreneurs make better product and business decisions.</p><div tml-image="ci01b2f94d70006d19"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNDM0MjQ5ODA1NzUzNjI1.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Big Data for Small Companies</p><p>“This is a big-data approach to startup success,” says Startup Compass co-founder and serial entrepreneur Bjoern Lasse Herrmann. “Big companies have analysts to make sense of their data, and executives can make decisions based on that data. But startups don’t have any access to that kind of analytics. We wanted to put analysts in the cloud for startups.”</p><p>“Startups can learn three key things,” Herrmann says. “First, which key performance indicators actually matter. Most startups don’t even know which KPIs they should track or why they should track them. Second, they learn how their KPIs compare to other companies’ KPIs so they will know if they’re on the right track. See, for example, their customer acquisition costs. The third thing they learn is what actions they need to be taking. We help businesses take the next steps.”</p><p>Startup Compass calls its approach “cracking the code of innovation.” We call it “how not to kill your startup.”</p><h3>The 5 don'ts</h3><p>The real value of Startup Compass is comparing your company to others like it, but Startup Compass also summarizes its findings in its Startup Genome report. Here are nuggets of wisdom from the first Startup Genome report, five things <em>not</em> to do:</p><p><strong>1. Don’t scale too early.</strong> This is the No. 1 cause of startup failure. Startup Compass has found that 70% of startups crash because they scale prematurely.</p><p><strong>2. Don’t work part time.</strong> Sleepy? Get used to it. People who work full time on their startups raise an average of 24 times more funding than those who work part time.</p><p><strong>3. Don’t go it alone.</strong> Maybe you are the smartest guy in the room. But solo founders raise less than half the money that two to three co-founders raise.</p><p><strong>4. Don’t ignore customers.</strong> Yes, they’re annoying. (What do they know?) But startups that track customer metrics have 400% more user growth.</p><p><strong>5. Don’t forget about the technology.</strong> Startups without a tech-oriented co-founder are twice as likely to scale prematurely and have three to five times less user growth.</p><p>If you want advice on an ongoing basis, you can join Startup Compass and in exchange for data on your startup, the company will benchmark your startup monthly, comparing you to similar outfits, so you can keep your priorities in line.</p><p>Startup Compass has 17,000 companies now using the service for things like checking whether their churn rate is too high or their retention rate is too low - or if they should be spending more money on customer acquisition.</p><p>“We have a number of companies that have gone through the process and tell us they used our product and realized they were falling behind on this or that metric and were able to fix those things and adjust accordingly. As a result they were better able to acquire customers in the long run and didn’t waste more money on things that were not productive.”</p><p><em>Images courtesy of <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>.</em></p>Most startups fail. Nine out of 10 never amount to anything more than fond memories and a forgotten Facebook page. One reason is that they often lack a clear picture of exactly how they’re doing until it’s too late. But there are tools designed to help you assess your startup's progress compared to similar companies.http://readwrite.com/2012/05/14/stop-flying-blind-use-big-data-to-benchmark-your-startup
http://readwrite.com/2012/05/14/stop-flying-blind-use-big-data-to-benchmark-your-startupWebMon, 14 May 2012 15:00:00 -0700Tim Devaney and Tom SteinCould Mind-Maps Make SharePoint More Lovable?<!-- tml-version="2" --><p> Companies everywhere pay for Microsoft's collaboration and document management service SharePoint, but research and anecdote both indicate that a lot of people dislike using it. What if using SharePoint was fun, though? Imagine all the money invested that would feel more worthwhile and all the collaborative work that could be done. </p><div tml-image="ci01b296d2a0006d19"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzI1OTcwMTkwMzY5Mzgy.jpg" /></figure></div><p>That's the theory behind a new product announced tonight from <a href="http://MindJet.com">Mindjet</a>, a nearly two decade old company that is best known for its mind mapping software but is extending itself into a larger corporate collaboration market. The company's new product, Mindjet SP, is a Mindjet plug-in for SharePoint - it takes SharePoint document trees and collaboration and displays them in mind map format. As mind maps go, Mindjet looks good (the company's free iPad app is a joy to use) - but not everyone loves mind maps in general. Can Mindjet save your company's SharePoint investment? </p><div tml-image="ci01b296d300026d19"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzI1OTcxODAwOTgyMTE4.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Mind mapping is an interesting practice. It's a method of using visual representations of interconnected concepts to explore non-linear relationships between things. It can be great for helping you think of details in a big complicated situation that you might not have thought of, or been able to write down the context for effectively, in a linear list. </p><p>Mind mapping is very popular in Japan, where systems thinking and design are given great respect. The paradigm is also often appreciated by fans of Neuro-linguistic programming, another controversial but also widely appreciated movement.</p><p>There's something that can feel a little hokey about mind mapping too, though. On the most benign end of the spectrum, it can be hard to remember to do. I know I like it when I remember to do it but only sit down and think things out that way a handful of times each year. On the other end of the spectrum, it can sometimes feel like mind mapping is a cult. Sometimes when you really like your mind map hammer, everything in life can look like a mind map nail.</p><p>Complicating the situation is the connection between mind mapping, and Mindjet in particular, and a man named <a href="http://www.thinkbuzan.com/us/">Tony Buzan</a>. Buzan claims to have created mind mapping and is a very charismatic figure. He's got his own mind mapping app and is a frequent lecturer and author. Mind mapping is cool and I do believe that it could be useful in helping expand and strengthen the brain, but there's something about this man that makes me more sympathetic to his critics than I feel towards him. Mind mapping is cool but Tony Buzan seems at high risk of being obnoxious. Maybe it's his absolute statements more than anything else. He does tell a good story, though. Here's Buzan's explanation of mind mapping, wrapped in an infomercial.</p><p></p><p>Mindjet's interface looks a lot like Buzan's and the company makes mention of him occasionally in passing around its website. It would be nice, I think, if Mindjet's organic interface view was more loosey-goosey like Buzan's.</p><p>None the less, Mindjet has almost 2 million users of its software. There is a free version, but paid versions have ranged from $20 per month up to $160 per month for up to ten users. It's a strong business and recently acquired collaberation management web app <a href="http://Cohuman.com">Cohuman</a>, a startup with a beautiful interface that companies willing to use <em>the public cloud</em> can use in conjunction with Mindjet mind maps. Those two technologies will be much closer integrated in the near future, the company said last week.</p><p>Most companies will still prefer to store and share their documents and other files on the <em>private cloud</em> behind firewalls. While critics of Microsoft are abundant, Mindjet believes that Microsoft is going to be a very important part of the enterprise for a long time. The mind mapping and collaboration company believes there's plenty of opportunity to focus on helping companies get the most out of Microsoft software.</p><p>Mindjet SP is an intriguing offering - can traditional or inhospitable interfaces be made more lovable through interpretation into a mind map format? Mind mapping always seems like an idea with great potential. Maybe a use case like this is what will make it finally catch on.</p>Companies everywhere pay for Microsoft's collaboration and document management service SharePoint, but research and anecdote both indicate that a lot of people dislike using it. What if using SharePoint was fun, though? Imagine all the money invested that would feel more worthwhile and all the collaborative work that could be done.
That's…http://readwrite.com/2011/11/14/could_mind-mapping_magic_make_microsofts_sharepoin
http://readwrite.com/2011/11/14/could_mind-mapping_magic_make_microsofts_sharepoinWebMon, 14 Nov 2011 15:59:49 -0800Marshall KirkpatrickDisqus Rolling Out Plug-n-Play Commenter Rankings <!-- tml-version="2" --><p> Disqus is quietly testing an interface that allows site owners to rank and give credentials and labels to their commenters. The feature takes advantage of a trend towards being able to find experts through social search. </p><div tml-image="ci01b29668f0056d19"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIyMzI1NTE2NTM0NDQ4NzQy.png" /></figure></div><p>The project is called <a href="http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/09/disqus-ranks.html">Disqus Ranks</a>, and it should be rolling out shortly. Disqus did not return a request for information about the timing of the rollout.</p><p>The commenting features mimic those already used internally by bigger publishers, who evaluate a user's influence by assigning badges to confirm to the network and community some measure of a commenter's significance. </p><p>Community managers who don't have their own custom-made evaluation systems will love this, because it provides them an easy-to-use social ranking system in plug-n-play format. Once the beta is released, it will show up in the interface as another feature in the menu list. </p><p>The site owner or manager can use a preferences list to calibrate from "most important" to "least important" the weight that each of a certain type of interaction has on the network or the blog.</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b2966950008266"><figure><img src="http://a2.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIyMzI1NTE3ODc2NjI2MDIy.png" /></figure></div><p>Then, he can create custom titles for each of those qualifications and assign them to users. At Fred Wilson's blog, <a href="http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/09/disqus-ranks.html">AVC</a>, for example, Wilson is going with a bar theme and assigning himself the title of bartender. He assigns different types of users other titles, like regular, or semi-regular, depending on how often they visit the site and how often they leave a comment. </p><p>The new features would be an improvement over straight-up commenting, especially since social search and discovery seems to be a huge trend developing Web communities. It's no longer enough for a site manager or a publisher to make commenting available to build the community. The new move seems to be towards being able to identify experts within the blog or the network.</p><p><em>Screenshot comes from Fred Wilson's AVC blog</em><br tml-linebreak="true" /></p>Disqus is quietly testing an interface that allows site owners to rank and give credentials and labels to their commenters. The feature takes advantage of a trend towards being able to find experts through social search.
The project is called Disqus Ranks, and it should be rolling out shortly. Disqus did not return a request for information about…http://readwrite.com/2011/09/19/disqus_rolling_out_plug-n-play_commenter_rankings
http://readwrite.com/2011/09/19/disqus_rolling_out_plug-n-play_commenter_rankingsWebMon, 19 Sep 2011 06:00:00 -0700Douglas CretsDARPA Hires Company to Build a Machine Reader That Scours the Web<!-- tml-version="2" --><p> The intelligence community is inputting data to the Web at an amazing rate. That mountain of data can be overwhelming to mere humans who are trying to read through pages and pages of information to pinpoint exactly what they're after. Mark Rutherford of <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10274435-42.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20">CNET News reports</a> that the <a href="http://www.darpa.mil/">Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)</a> has hired a tech company to develop a reader that will scour the Web and render certain information and knowledge into a form that is more easily digested and usable.</p><div tml-image="ci01b296da90038266"><figure><img src="http://a3.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/MTIyMzI2MDA0NTUwMTA3NzUw.gif" /></figure></div><p><a href="http://bbn.com/">BBN Technologies</a> was recently awarded a $29.7 million contract to develop a universal text engine that will capture intelligence and render it usable to humans as well as artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Officially called the Machine Reading Program, this new system will "automatically monitor the technological and political activities of nation states and transnational organizations - which could mean everything from al-Qaeda to the U.N." for the US military. BBN expects there may also be many useful civilian applications for its new reader. The company has also developed a real-time audio stream called the the <a href="http://bbn.com/products_and_services/bbn_broadcast_monitoring_system/">BBN Broadcast Monitoring System</a> that automatically transcribes real-time audio streams and translates them into English. </p><p>With this new project, BBN hopes to "develop techniques that can generalize across the linguistic structure and content of diverse documents to extract relations and axioms directly from text rather than relying on a knowledge engineer to encode such information." Here's how it will work:</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b3056a40016d19"><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNDQ3NTY3NDI1NDAwMDg5.jpg" /></figure></div><p>Although it is not immediately clear when (or if) this new machine reader will be available to civilians, we are certainly looking forward to trying something like this out. Some paranoid types will believe this is nothing more than "the man" trying to spy on us, but those people need to realize everything we do online is being watched by someone. If you are really concerned about your online privacy you should secure important data on your computer, call your government leaders and try to change privacy laws, or stay off the Web altogether. </p><p>Researchers, medical professionals, consumers, students and others are all likely to benefit from such an application. Not having to spend unnecessary time searching through mountains of information on the Web for something relevant makes life easier and allows us to be more productive.</p>The intelligence community is inputting data to the Web at an amazing rate. That mountain of data can be overwhelming to mere humans who are trying to read through pages and pages of information to pinpoint exactly what they're after. Mark Rutherford of CNET News reports that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has hired a…http://readwrite.com/2009/06/28/darpa_hires_company_to_build_a_machine_reader_that_scours_the_web
http://readwrite.com/2009/06/28/darpa_hires_company_to_build_a_machine_reader_that_scours_the_webPlaySun, 28 Jun 2009 04:54:33 -0700Doug ColemanWikipedia Gets Grant to Help First-Time Authors<!-- tml-version="2" --><p> The <a href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home">Wikimedia Foundation</a>, the non-profit entity behind the immensely popular <a href="http://wikipedia.org">Wikipedia</a>, just announced a new project that is meant to make it a lot easier for inexperienced authors to contribute articles and edits to the project. To do this, the Wikimedia Foundation just received a $890,000 grant from the Stanton Foundation. The project will focus on making the user interface for editing and writing Wikipedia articles easier to use for less tech-savvy contributors.</p><div tml-image="ci01b298b4c0036d19"><figure><img src="http://a4.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyMzI4MDQxMTY5OTA2OTY5.jpg" /></figure></div><p>While there are already numerous browser extensions that try make editing Wikipedia articles easier, the default interface and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_edit">markup language</a> of the Wikipedia can be quite intimidating for first time users.</p><h2>Helping First-Time Authors</h2><p>As <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sue_Gardner">Sue Gardner</a>, the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, points out in the announcement, most of the current Wikipedia authors have a "moderate-to-high level of technical understanding." This, however, excludes a large number of potential contributors who aren't very tech savvy, but would like to participate in the project.</p><p>The Wikimedia Foundation will use this grant to create a team of developers and user interface designers that will work on reducing barriers of entry for first-time authors. Specifically, the team will look at hiding the more complex elements of the user interface from users who don't need to deal with them.</p><p>To us, this seems like a worthwhile project. Anybody who has looked at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page&amp;action=edit">markup language</a> for the Wikipedia knows that is anything but intuitive and that there is quite a learning curve involved before one can start to contribute anything more than simple edits. Reducing these barriers of entry will allow a whole new group of users to contribute their knowledge to the project.</p><p></p><div tml-image="ci01b2991ba0018266"><figure><img src="http://a1.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,w_620/MTIyMzI4NDgzMDE0NjcyOTk4.png" /></figure></div>The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit entity behind the immensely popular Wikipedia, just announced a new project that is meant to make it a lot easier for inexperienced authors to contribute articles and edits to the project. To do this, the Wikimedia Foundation just received a $890,000 grant from the Stanton Foundation. The project will…http://readwrite.com/2008/12/03/wikipedia_gets_grant_to_make_editing_easier
http://readwrite.com/2008/12/03/wikipedia_gets_grant_to_make_editing_easierWebWed, 03 Dec 2008 02:09:44 -0800Frederic LardinoisIs SaaS Cheaper Than Licensed Software?<!-- tml-version="2" --><p> Most people quickly answer this question in the affirmative. I certainly do. However, there are people out there who aren't sure. They look at the monthly cost of a SaaS application and compare it to the equivalent licensed product over an extended period of time. Given enough time, you will eventually hit a point when the SaaS product <em>appears</em> to be more expensive. Let's look at it from the perspective of the total cost of ownership (TCO).</p><div tml-image="ci01b2fc45c0026d19"><figure><img src="http://a5.files.readwrite.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTIyNDM3NTE1MzIyODc5MjU3.jpg" /></figure></div><p>The true cost of a licensed product is <em>much</em> higher than just the software. Here are other things to factor in:</p><ul><li><strong>Hardware costs</strong>: You have to either buy machines or add your software to existing servers and manage them. If it is a mission-critical application, you will probably need dedicated machines and back-ups.</li><li><strong>Additional software costs</strong>: You will most likely need an OS, application server software, a database, monitoring software, etc. Many of these products are open source now, but there are still associated costs.</li><li><strong>Implementation costs</strong>: In my experience, the implementation costs associated with a behind-the-firewall solution are <em>always</em> higher than those of a SaaS application. There is simply more to do. You will either pay consultants or use your own valuable resources and time to worry about installing software, integrating it, building servers, configuration, etc.</li><li><strong>Maintenance labor</strong>: If you have in-house software, there is going to be some level of effort required to keep it happy. Your IT people will need to take care of it, which will keep them from doing more value-added activities.</li></ul><p>Another huge factor here is the ability to get the latest and greatest technology. Once you install software in a data center, it becomes more difficult to upgrade and maintain it (especially if you customize it). In such a case, you will be stuck with old software that you will have to replace in the same time frame described above. In other words, unless you are absolutely sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your licensed software is going to meet your business needs for 5 years or more, then SaaS might make financial sense.</p><p>Let's look at a real-world example. A 100-person company has been sharing files via email and internal servers. The executives have finally concluded they need to join the 21st century and put a solution in place. One option is to implement SharePoint. Here is a rough estimate of what that might cost:</p><p>Year 1<br tml-linebreak="true" />
MOSS server = $4,500<br tml-linebreak="true" />
User client access license = $90<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Hosting and maintenance = $5,000<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Implementation and developer support = $20,000<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Total = $29,590</p><p>Year 2 and on<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Hosting and maintenance = $5,000<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Developer support = $3,000<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Total = $8,000</p><p>I know of a SaaS solution that has 80% of the file-collaboration functionality of SharePoint but charges $850 per month for 100 users.</p><p>Year 1<br tml-linebreak="true" />
SaaS fees = $10,200<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Implementation support = $10,000<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Total = $20,200</p><p>Year 2 and on<br tml-linebreak="true" />
SaaS fees = $10,200<br tml-linebreak="true" />
Total = $10,200</p><p>It would take over 4 and a half years before the licensed software became cheaper. By that time, I'm quite sure there would be another solution that could replace SharePoint, and the cycle would start again. We can quibble about the numbers, but you get the point. Plus, the numbers don't reflect that the SaaS solution is likely to improve and innovate faster than the licensed software by a significant amount.</p><p>What do you think? Have you done this analysis, and what did you conclude?</p>Most people quickly answer this question in the affirmative. I certainly do. However, there are people out there who aren't sure. They look at the monthly cost of a SaaS application and compare it to the equivalent licensed product over an extended period of time. Given enough time, you will eventually hit a point when the SaaS product appears to…http://readwrite.com/2008/11/21/is_saas_cheaper_than_licensed
http://readwrite.com/2008/11/21/is_saas_cheaper_than_licensedWebFri, 21 Nov 2008 06:35:00 -0800Jason RothbartSummary of Bill Ives' KM Storytelling Posts<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>I recently did a dump of content from my PDA to <a href="http://ideas.readwriteweb.com">my
linkblog</a> - things I'd been reading offline and not yet recorded in my 'Ideas
Database' (aka my linkblog). One batch of links is from a single person, <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/">Bill Ives</a>. So I
thought I'd dump them into one R/WW post - more for my benefit than anything else.</p><p>All these links are from his <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/trends_kmportals/index.html">Trends:
KM/Portals</a> category, which I read specifically for the posts on KM storytelling:</p><p>a) From <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/05/stories_and_org.html">Stories
and Organizational Learning</a>:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>(quoting <a href="http://www.stevedenning.com/">Steve Denning</a>) "Storytelling
doesn’t replace analytical thinking. It supplements it by enabling us to imagine
new perspectives and new worlds, and is ideally suited to communicating change and
stimulating innovation."</p><p>b) <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/06/emerging_form_t.html">On KM
success</a>:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"I have found the key differentiator in KM success to be the quality of leadership and
not the quality of KM solution design or technology. I have seen implementations with
acceptable designs flourish under the right leadership and brilliant "next generation" KM
designs flounder under poor leadership."</p><p>c) From <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/07/with_the_contin.html">History of
KM Part 6: Digital Age Offers Scalability with New Possibilities for Dialogue</a>. Bill
finishes his excellent "History of KM" series (which I thoroughly enjoyed reading) with
this sentence:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"Now blogs have entered the picture to make content more personal."</p><p>What an excellent way to conclude a history of KM - it's saying that we're in the
middle of making history right now, with blogging.</p><p>d) Another series of posts I enjoyed was "Storytelling and Knowledge Management" -
another 6-parter. In Part 4, <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/08/storytelling_an_3.html">Documenting
and Sharing Organizational Knowledge</a>, Bill says:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"To make knowledge collection and knowledge sharing more effective, one must go beyond
simply abstracting documents from explicit knowledge sources. It is necessary to provide
a story of the document."</p><p>Which again, is where blogs come in according to Bill.</p><p>e) In Part 5, <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/08/storytelling_an_4.html">Enhancing
Learning</a>, Bill explains the benefits of stories as a learning device:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"The story contains much more than a series of basic procedural steps. It can contain
the rationale, the strategy and the cultural values implicit within the actions taken by
the story teller."</p><p>f) In a later series called "KM Stories", Bill writes about specific case studies. In
<a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/08/km_stories_part.html">Part
Two</a> he says:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"For knowledge management to be successful, IT, HR, and the business units need to
work together to achieve success."</p><p>g) In his <a href="http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/2004/09/post_script_sum.html">postscript</a>
to that series, Bill lists the factors for successful KM projects. I won't re-list them
all here, but suffice to say (for me) that the first two are people-related factors:</p><blockquote tml-render-size="medium"></blockquote><p>"Gain and Enlist Top Down Support to Overcome Turf Issues</p><p>Provide Strong Leadership for the Knowledge Function"</p><p>I suspect that's why KM projects are so wont to fail. When you require the support of
lots of different people and a strong leader, well that's Politics - not technology. And we all know how contentious politics can be!</p><p>Thanks to Bill Ives for writing so much valuable content on the subject of KM and
storytelling. I hope to read more soon.</p>I recently did a dump of content from my PDA to my
linkblog - things I'd been reading offline and not yet recorded in my 'Ideas
Database' (aka my linkblog). One batch of links is from a single person, Bill Ives. So I
thought I'd dump them into one R/WW post - more for my benefit than anything else.
All these links are from his Trends:
KM/Portals…http://readwrite.com/2004/11/17/summary_of_bill
http://readwrite.com/2004/11/17/summary_of_billWebWed, 17 Nov 2004 13:26:46 -0800Richard MacManusThe Role of Storywriters in Organisations<!-- tml-version="2" --><p>After my <a href=" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002319.php ">Dave Snowden grokking</a> last week, I've been reading up on storytelling in KM. <a href=" http://billives.typepad.com/portals_and_km/trends_kmportals/index.html ">Bill Ives</a> has some fantastic reading on this subject and I intend to read <a href=" http://www.stevedenning.com/learn.htm ">Steve Denning</a> too. I was thinking this morning about how people have different niches and specialist talents. For example, I'm a better writer than I am a programmer or designer. And there are a lot of people who are better programmers or designers than writers. Or better talkers than writers. Or better artists than talkers.</p><p>I've always maintained that <a href=" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/001729.php ">blogging isn't for everyone</a> and that applies inside corporate walls too. Blogs and wikis are not going to suit everyone in an organisation, so they're not the perfect KM solution by any means. One way around this is to look for those 1 or 2 people in a team or group who are natural writers or have an interest in Web writing - and encourage those people to take responsibility for their team's content. This is also the approach most companies take when running their Content Management Systems.</p><p>But I was thinking about an alternative approach. What if organisations hired a specialist writer, whose job it is to go around the different teams and elicit stories from people. That person would be a kind of journalist (but forget about the whole "are bloggers journalists" debate, that's not important). The person I'm describing would interview team members and coax stories from them. Those stories would then be transcribed onto a team weblog - with all team members encouraged to comment on or add to the stories. The point is that there needs to be at least one person who knows how to spin a narrativeÖ write compelling content.</p><p>Once that narrative is "up there" on the blog - it acts as a springboard for the non-writers to contribute bits of content, eventually adding up to a store of knowledge about the organisation. Think of the writer's narrative as a star, with the resulting contributions being planets that are created around the gravitational pull and life-giving energy of the star.</p><p>Just as there are specialist programmers and designers on Web teams, I think there is a need for specialist writers or storytellers to act as a <strong>Knowledge Management nexus</strong> for organisations. This is an idea I'm exploring for a business - where I set myself up as a consultant KM StoryWriter.</p><p>And yes it uses the same skillset that I'd need to write <a href=" http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/002335.php ">a biography of Web 2.0</a>. I guess I'm exploring ways to fulfil my ambition to write stories for a living. The future of fiction is non-fiction - there's very little market for novelists these days. I think there is a market for non-fiction stories - for example in the form of non-fiction books, or as a Knowledge Management tool in organisations. I feel I'm getting closer to finding my nicheÖ</p>After my Dave Snowden grokking last week, I've been reading up on storytelling in KM. Bill Ives has some fantastic reading on this subject and I intend to read Steve Denning too. I was thinking this morning about how people have different niches and specialist talents. For example, I'm a better writer than I am a programmer or designer. And there…http://readwrite.com/2004/10/13/the_role_of_sto
http://readwrite.com/2004/10/13/the_role_of_stoWebWed, 13 Oct 2004 01:18:35 -0700Richard MacManus